Welcome to my Wiki Page, my name is Cassandra Flaherty!


I have just finished my student teaching at Pasadena Park Elementary and just received my K-8 teaching certification. I am currently working on finishing my Master's of Education at Eastern Washington University this summer. I am beginning to apply for jobs in the Spokane. I realize that the Spokane area is over populated with teachers, but I am remaining optimistic.

I am married to Sean Flaherty. He is also a teacher. He is endorsed in Social Studies, History, and English at the secondary level. We both share a passion for education, the outdoors, tennis and basketball.

IMG_5733.JPG

Instructional Model
Our group decided to work with the Schema Theory of Learning. The idea of this model is that all of the knowledge is contained within an elaborate network of cognitive structures that create one understanding of the world. The guiding principles of the schema theory are: one must be taught general knowledge and generic concepts, teachers must help students build this general knowledge, also known as schemata, and make connections between different ideas, teachers need to help build students preexisting knowledge or remind them of what their preexisting knowledge is, ones schema grows as new learning takes place, once one has a preexisting idea of a concept, tension occurs when new learning contradicts what has already been learned, it is the teachers role to understand and be sympathetic to this tension, along with this idea is the realization that deep-seated schemata are incredibly hard if not impossible to change, most would prefer to live with inconsistencies rather than change their values or beliefs.


schema_photo.gif

Framework for Analyzing & Evaluating Media
Lasswells_Model.jpg